


I'll Just Hold You In My Arms Tonight

by NoirAngel011



Series: Robin Needs Hugs and Steve Provides [3]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Abuse, Blood, Canon Lesbian Character, Child Abuse, Cutting, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rape/Non-con Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 01:23:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20574161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoirAngel011/pseuds/NoirAngel011
Summary: Hopper gets a domestic disturbance call on Old Cherry Road. What he thinks originally is just Neil drinking too hard again is instead an entirely different teenage girl being beaten. And bad.or; Robin is hurt, Max is afraid, Steve is comforting, and Hopper just wants this night to be goddamn over.Rated M for blood, child abuse, and swearing.





	I'll Just Hold You In My Arms Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> I could easily write a chapter where Hoper interrogates Robin and Austin if you wanted me to. Reviews and Kudos are an author's fuel!

When Hopper got the call, it was ten pm and he just wanted to go to sleep. El had been sitting on the couch, watching some late night soap opera when Hopper got a phone call.

“Chief, it’s Powell. We just got a domestic disturbance call from Old Cherry Road. You need to get over there right now” Then Powell hung up the phone. 

“Shit shit shit shit shit,” Hopper cursed as he ran around, getting back into his uniform. El watching him from the couch. He noticed she got up and migrated to her bedroom but didn't pay any mind to her.

He was worried because Max lived on Old Cherry Road. He had made it very clear that if Neil was to lay a finger on her he would be locked up in a heartbeat. With Billy gone, there was no one left to protect her. Hopper really hoped she had spent the night at Steve’s.

He was almost dressed when El came back out and headed for the door. There was still a patch missing in the roof that he was working on fixing but besides that the cabin was back in working order. All the locks were back on the doors and El started undoing them one by one.

“Where are you going?” He asked her, finishing sliding on his shoes.

“I’m going with you.” There was no room for argument in her tone, and Hopper didn’t want to deal with it. He stood up and grabbed his keys, walking out just as El undid the last lock. She shut the door behind them, making a break for the rented camero they were driving around because the blazer was certainly out of order.

Hopper was thankful when they pulled up that the house a few people were gathered around in the yard was not Max’s. Then he recognized Neil standing there in the yard as well. He looked down the road to Max’s house and saw her sitting on the front porch, watching from afar. Even from a distance he could see the redhead trembling.

He pushed through the people, after ordering El to stay in the car. He didn’t know how bad it was in there. He couldn’t let her get hurt.

He knocked on the door. No response. He could hear shouting and crying coming from inside. It sounding like a grown man, his wife, and their teenage son shouting at them to stop.

He tried the knob. It opened. He didn’t think he was ready for what he saw inside.

Raymond Buckley with a teenage girl pushed up against the kitchen cabinets, her arms raised above her head as he took a steak knife to her wrists, blood running down her arms when he held her in place with a knee to her crotch. A boy a few years older than her was shouting at him to stop hurting his sister, but his dad didn’t listen. What Hopper assumed was the kids’ mom just sat on the couch silently reading her book. Not caring what was happening in the kitchen. 

It took Hopper a second to recognize the girl. She had been at starcourt. She was the sailor girl Steve worked with. Ever since they had been attached at the hip. Of course the one night she went home this happened.

The boy ran up to his dad and grabbed him, somehow tugging him down and away from the girl. Still nobody noticed Hopper.

“Oh you’ll pay for that, motherfucker.” Raymond growled.

He jumped back in and lunged for his daughter again, who was shaking in fear with tears streaming down her face.

“Leave Robin alone!” The boy screamed, jumping in front of the smaller girl to block the blow. Robin sank to the floor, now steadily crying.

“STOP IT! JUST STOP IT!” She screamed, her voice high pitched and shrill, so different from the tone Hopper had normally heard her take.

It was then that the other officers burst into the house.

“Law enforcement step away from the girl,” The said as guns were pointed at Raymond. He took two steps back, hands raised. Robin screamed, pulling her knees up to her chest and folding her arms over her hair, covering her hair in dripping blood.

While the other cops locked up Raymond and his wife (for what was deemed as child neglect), Hopper tried to get Robin to calm down. Austin, he learned her brothers name, was also trying to get Robin to be quiet so they could clean and bandage her arms, but she wasn’t making any progress. The cops had cleared out and while two other guys searched the house for alcohol and drugs within a child's possession or something, El disobeyed her orders and came inside.

She went straight for the phone.

“What are you doing, El?” Hopper asked. At the name El, Robin looked up. Her eyes were bloodshot from all her crying. Austin gently tried to take her hand, but she yanked it away.

El ignored him. So he turned his attention back to Robin.

“Hey kid, can you go get a towel and pour warm water on it, we need to get her cleaned off.” Austin nodded and ran into the bathroom under the stairs,he started running the water to get it warm. Hopper looked back down at Robin, assessing the situation. There was blood, pretty much everywhere. The kid could probably do a good job at playing Carrie at this point.

“Yeah, it’s bad” Hopper heard El say on the phone. “Okay, see you in five.” And with hat El hung up. El walked over to Robin and kneeled down next to her.

“Hey, Robin. It’s okay. Steve will be here in a few minutes. You’re going to be okay.” El rested her hand on Robin’s shaking one. Surprisingly, the older girl didn’t pull away. She didn’t look at El either though.

Austin had just gotten back with a towel when Steve kicked in the door, running straight for Robin.

He scooped her up and pulled her close to him, Robin clinging to him and crying more now. Steve didn’t seem to care that now he was also covered in the slowly receding blood.

Hopper was worried she was going to pass out if they didn’t stop the bleeding soon.

Her breathing was becoming jagged. Steve noticed this quickly. Just inhaling felt like a hundred toothpicks stabbing Robin’s lungs.

“Here, set her back down here,” Hopper patted the spot Robin had been sitting before. El stood close as Steve slowly lowered Robin onto the ground.

“It’s okay,” El tried to soothe Robin. She laid a hand on top of Robin’s head where Blood was starting to dry and become tacky.

“Just breathe for us, okay? In and out, you’ll be fine,” Austin took Robin’s wrist into his hands and Hopper wrapped it up in the towel.

“You’re safe here. I’m right next to you, Rob.” Steve wrapped an arm around her back and held her other hand in his.

“JUst keep calm for me, kid. We have to stop this bleeding.” Hopper told her sternly, trying to go for collecting but he was just a tad too angry to keep his cool. He wasn’t mad at Robin, he was never mad at the victims. It was everyone else that pissed him off.

He always knew Raymond was a little off his rocker, but this, to slice his daughters wrists and judging by her undone jeans, tried to at least touch her, Hopper was furious. It was almost 11 pm, and he was trying to keep a seventeen year old girl from bleeding out. This is not how he planned his night to go.

“Jane, go get another wet towel,” He ordered. El followed. He always called her Jane when he was frustrated, and he could tell his was very mad at the man who had hurt Robin right now.

Robin winced as she breathed, clutching Steve’s hand tighter.

“She needs a doctor. We should take her to the ER,” Austin said, keeping his grip on her arm tight as they applied pressure to her arm, trying desperately to stop the bleeding.

Robin was not happy at that suggestion. Where she had been quiet for going on twenty minutes now, she finally spoke.

“No, no doctor. Never. Bad. Hurts.” 

Hopper was a little worried at her slightly slurred words, but he pushed through, grabbing the towel from El and helping Steve wrap it around her other arm.

They all sat there for fifteen more minutes. Robin had her head laid back against the fridge and her breathing was slowly becoming normal. They kept applying pressure on the towels, but no more blood was seeping through the towels, which was a good sign.    
Hopper had designated El job as to keep Robin on fluids. Every few minutes she would hold a cold water bottle to Robin’s lips and make her drink something. Right now it was all they could do.

Austin had gotten up to go lock the doors and noticed Max outside on her porch swing.

“Hey, whos that girl down the street outside? It’s almost 11 thirty. She should be asleep,” he observed.

El looked up from where she had just set down the water bottle on the floor again.

She crossed the room to the window and peeked out.

“Why is Max still outside?” She asked. She knew that Max should be asleep by now. Not outside all by herself in her PJs sitting on the porch swing. That’s a way to get murdered.

“She’s probably heard the screaming,” Robin said. She had been getting a little better about talking.

“Someone needs to go tell her to go to bed. I really don’t want to arrest her mom for child neglect tonight,” Hopper huffed.

El came back over and picked up the water bottle, feeding Robin a little bit more water.

“Austin, You take over water duty, I’m going to talk to Max,” El said before she marched out the door. Austin shrugged and took El’s place on the floor next to his little sister.

El walked down the sidewalk before looking both ways and crossing the street. She ran across Max’s front yard over to Max. Her hair was hanging in her face and she was wringing her hands together. She was only wearing a tank top and shorts, definitely not appropriate for March Hawkins’ weather.

“Hey, what are you doing out here. It’s been almost an hour and a half.” El sat down next to Max and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I knew something was wrong last week. I asked Robin if she wanted to spend the night with me and Steve but she said no, so I came home too. I knew something bad was going to happen. Her dad is crazy. I can see it in his eyes. I knew he was going to hurt her but i thought i was just being paranoid so I didn’t say anything. I should have fucking said something,” Max ranted an was now steadily crying now. Of course she felt the blame. She lived right down the street and had probably heard everything. Even though she was two doors and across the street walls were very thin and sounds travelled.

“No, it’s not your fault. Robin’s okay now. She’s going to be just fine.” El repeated the words that Hopper and Steve told Robin, but she didn’t believe them. Robin was pretty banged up. She needed a doctor but refused. Trauma does that to you, even though Robin never did like doctors to begin with.

“That’s a straight up white lie. I know for a fact he was slicing at her arms with a kitchen knife and she was just screaming. It was so bad El. You should have heard her. I went over there with Neil to see when was up. When I saw through the window I ran back home. I couldn’t watch it. Robin- she just was screaming and yelling for him to stop and he wouldn’t. I heard someone say that he was trying to rape her at the same time. Now, my dad isn’t a great guy, but he would never do that to me. That’s just sick and cruel and nobody should go through that,” Max paused for a second to breathe.

“I know Max, I know. Nobody in our group deserves that after what we’ve gone through,” El rubbed her hand up and down Max’s back.

But the redhead was back on her rant. “Robin is so amazing. She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s so cool. She’s so kind to everyone she cares about. Sure, she teases everyone, but that’s just how she shows affection. It’s funny. She’s such an incredibly sweet girl, and people act like any girl who’s tough is invincible. They’re not. Robin breaks like anyone else. And- and just because what- because she likes girls? Everyone is so goddamn mean to her, because Hawkins’ hates girls that don’t fit the perfect mold. Girls that don’t have the best figure or aren’t just dumb ditzy blondes. It’s not fair El, It’s just not fair.” Max now seemed completely worn out. Max laid her head on El’s chest, breathing in deeply.

“Do you wanna go back and see Robin?” El asked quietly, twirling a piece of Max’s long red hair around her finger. Max nodded.

“Yeah, my mom took some sort of pills before bed and Neil went out to the bar. No one will care.” It broke El’s heart that Max couldn’t say what Billy was up to, because he was lying six feet under, as morbid as that sounded.

They walked slowly back up the hill to Robin’s house, hand in hand. When El pushed the door open, she was surprised to see Robin sitting the kitchen island.

“Max, El, just in time, can you come take these towels to the laundry room and get another bottle of water?” Steve asked the girls from where he was holding Robin’s arm up so Hopper could wrap it. Max caught sight of the many scars on Robin’s wrists and her breath hitched. Some looked old, and some were for sure very, very recent. It was still difficult to see even though Max knew that Robin hadn’t done that to herself. At least she didn’t think she had.

Max took the bloody and damp towels away while El got the water. They came back and stood awkwardly away from the group while Hopper wrapped up Robin’s cuts.

Soon her arms were cleaned off. Now they just had to get the blood out of her hair and get her into pajamas and then they would start the long, for sure filled with nightmares, night.

“How are we gonna wash out her hair?” Austin asked, putting away the first aid kit under the sink.

“I don’t know. I doubt she could do it on her own,” Hopper can closer to get a good look at the now completely dried blood in Robin’s hair.

“Maybe just lean her over the side of the tub and wash it. That’s what my mom used to do when I was a kid,” Max suggested. Steve nodded and Austin and Hopper murmured in agreement.

Steve whisked Robin off, carrying her upstairs to the hall bathroom where they had a full sized tub.

“I don’t mind you seeing me in just a bra,” Robin said, pulling her top over her head, her movements still slightly jagged from the pain in her arms.

Steve nodded. Hell, he had seen his best friend in fifty shades of ugly. He didn’t care if he was seeing her in just a bra and jeans.

While she was undressing Steve opened the door to call out to Max and El downstairs.

“Hey! Can one of you kids get Robin some PJs?!” He shouted.

“Second door on the right! Bottom drawer!” Robin added. Steve shut the door but heard footsteps running up the stairs knowing that the girls were on their way.

Steve turned around and was not prepared to see the bruises covered Robin’s torso. God, he had gotten her really bad, hadn’t he?

“Come on, let’s get this blood out of your hair,” Steve said, taking Robin by the waist and slowly lowering her down onto the bath mat. She laid her head back so her hair dangled over into the tub. Steve took down the shower head and turned the water to warm, grabbing the shampoo and starting to wash out her hair.

Max had come in and set down Robin’s clothes just as Steve was turning on the water. Once he was finished, he kept Robin leaned down and grabbed a hand towel from the rack. They didn’t need a full sized one, he hair wasn’t that long. He dried it off over the tub, leaving it kind of damp. Steve wasn’t about to try and figure out a hairdryer at midnight on a Thursday. 

He helped her into her clothes, but was happy to see Robin was starting to become more aware of her surroundings and was slowly bouncing back to her usual self. 

Steve carried Robin to her bedroom. He knew she was tired and he didn’t want to make her walk if she didn’t have to.

“Here, Let’s get some sleep.” Steve said, laying Robin down in her bed. The covers were messy, like she had been forcefully pulled from them. Steve found it odd but didn’t really care. It was late and he was tired.

Steve and Robin laid down together, Robin curled into Steve. He ran his finger up and down along her bandages. The door opened after a few minutes, startling Robin. She jumped a little ut Steve held her tightly, keeping her from falling and hitting her head on the side table or something.

Max and El stuck their heads into the room, puppy dog eyes on their faces.

“Fine, cm’ere girls.” Steve beckoned them over and they climbed into bed beside him. 

Somehow they all slept easy that night.


End file.
